Week 30: Learning Life Skills with a Magnetic Checklist

This is my favorite Trip Clip product – my kids each have a magnetic morning checklist that they use every morning before school. They enjoy being able to move the magnets from one side to the other, and to visually see their progress through the list. I love not having to remember everything they need to do each morning! I don’t even have to remind them to check their list – they just know what they have to do. It really puts them in charge of getting themselves out the door in the morning.

In addition to saving you from being a drill sergeant barking out orders every morning, this list is a great way to teach your kids life skills. They’ll learn:

Organization: I still use lists as an adult to make sure I don’t forget things! Have your child help you create their list, and then edit it as needed. You can even print your own custom magnets very easily with the magnetic checklist activity.

Time management: If your little one is having trouble getting everything done in time, you can add a time-line to this list to give them checkpoints along the way (you can even make the time markers magnetic to add them to your list). Since the magnets move, this list serves as an excellent visual indicator of how far along they are.

Responsibility: This list is a great way to put your child in charge. The list changes the dynamic – they aren’t helping you get them ready for school, you are helping them with their job of getting themselves ready. They can ask for help along the way with tying shoes, or packing lunch, but they will be the one in charge of getting themselves ready on time. It really does make a difference that they are the one in charge.

Self care: It’s easy to get into the habit of doing things for your kids, but our job is to help them learn to be independent. If you step back and let them do things for themselves, you may be surprised to find that there are a lot of things on their list that they can do all by themselves. You may need to leave more time, but your kids will feel great when they can demonstrate how capable they are!

Hi Dorothy! I do have 2 magnetic checklists, one for each kid, for the morning. For after school, I’ve found that a weekly chart works better. I printed out a chart of each kid on regular paper, and then inserted it into a plastic sleeve and my kids use a dry erase marker to check things off as they go each afternoon. We like to be able to keep track of what things got done each day – for example, sometimes they skip their shower, so if the next day we see it wasn’t checked off the day before, we know they absolutely can’t skip it again! The weekly lists also helps them know what’s coming so they can plan homework around sports and lessons since some days are much busier than others.